[191]

PRIMULA MARGINATA. SILVER-EDGED PRIMULA.

_Class and Order._

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

PRIMULA _marginata_ foliis obovatis serrato-dentatis albo
marginatis, scapo multifloro, involucri foliolis pedunculis
brevioribus.

There is no difficulty in determining the British plants of this genus,
but much in ascertaining many of the foreign ones: Professor JACQUIN has
taken great pains to elucidate them in his _Miscel. Austr._ where
fifteen are specifically described, none of which accord exactly with
the plant here figured, which has every appearance of being a distinct
species: in the _Hortus Kewensis_ it is described as the _glutinosa_ of
the _Flora Austriaca_, with which it agrees in many respects, but
specimens sent from Vienna shew it to be a different plant; in its
farinaceous tendency it accords with the _Primula Auricula_, but is very
unlike that plant as it is figured in its wild state by Prof. _Jacquin_,
in the _Fl. Austr._ the leaves being much narrower, the flowers larger,
and of a different colour; it differs from _glutinosa_ in the shortness
of its involucrum, from _villosa_ (already figured) in having leaves
much narrower, perfectly smooth in respect to villi, and in the colour
of its blossoms, which approach that of the Lilac, but more especially
in its disposition to become mealy, particularly on the edges of its
leaves, between the serratures, where it is so strong as to make the
leaf appear with a white or silvery edge; as this character is constant
to it, and not to any other species of Primula that we are acquainted
with, we have given to it the name of _marginata_.

Mr. _Lee_ received it from the Alps in the year 1781, and it has
continued in our gardens ever since unaltered by culture.|

It is a very delicate pretty plant, with a pleasing musky smell, and
flowers in March and April. To succeed in its cultivation, it should be
placed in a pot of stiffish loam, mixed with one-third rotten leaves,
bog earth, or dung, and plunged in a north border, taking care that it
does not suffer for want of water in dry seasons; thus treated, it
increases by its roots nearly as readily as the Auricula, and may be
propagated by parting its' roots early in April or September. |

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[192]

CYPRIPEDIUM ACAULE. TWO-LEAVED LADY'S SLIPPER.

_Class and Order._

GYNANDRIA DIANDRIA.

_Generi